Innocence Blog
April 5, 2007
Dallas exoneree joins DA Watkins for panel discussion
At a recent panel discussion in Dallas, James Waller shared the story of 10 years in prison and 14 years on parole for a crime he didn’t commit. Other panelists included new Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins, who is working with the Innocence Project of Texas to review more than 300 cases for potential DNA testing. The event was organized by the Dallas / Ft. Worth Association of Black Journalists.
“Everybody thinks that the civil rights struggle is over, it’s not. There’s a new civil rights struggle, dealing with criminal justice,”… Watkins said.
“We’ve got to change the way we look at the criminal justice system and do certain things to make sure that we don’t have people who look like us, or any other folks, being labeled as criminals for the rest of their lives,” said Watkins.
Read the full story. (Black Press USA, 4/4/07)
Read more about Waller’s case or listen online to his recent appearance on North Carolina Public Radio.
Previous Blog Entries: Read more about Dallas DA Craig Watkins and his plan to reform the county’s criminal justice system.
New Hampshire man requests 4th round of DNA testing
After three rounds of inconclusive DNA testing, a lawyer for Robert Breest argued yesterday in a New Hampshire courtroom that Breest deserves modern testing that could indicate his innocence. Breest was convicted of a 1971 murder in East Concord, New Hampshire, and has always maintained his innocence. His motions for new DNA testing have been denied since 2004; prosecutors continue to oppose testing using new technology.
Albert Scherr is representing Breest pro-bono in affiliation with the New England Innocence Project. A parallel lawsuit seeking access to DNA testing is also ongoing in federal court, in which the Innocence Project is working with attorney Ian Dumain (a former Innocence Project clinic student while at Cardozo Law School) of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP.
Read the full story here. (Concord Monitor, 4/5/07)
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